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Post by lemming13 on May 10, 2011 12:59:06 GMT
Having finished Mrs Gaskell, I've now moved on to an interesting little piece from 1911 - C W Leadbeater's The Perfume of Egypt. The introduction makes the claim that all the stories in the collection are true, and that the author collected them personally (apart from those he himself experienced). Since he was a founder of the Theosophical Society and protege of Annie Besant, I can quite believe that. They mostly seem to concern spirit manifestations and astral travel, and so far I've enjoyed them; they are rather well written, with an eye for entertainment value as well as for dissemination of spiritualist beliefs. One of the pieces I've read so far, The Major's Promise, was according to the author published in Catherine Crowe's The Night Side of Nature, but in a much shorter version. So, to date we have; The Perfume of Egypt - in which a barrister experiences an unusual ghostly visitation accompanied by a unique perfume, and later finds an explanation while staying with an old school friend at his newly inherited manor. The Forsaken Temple - a Sunday School teacher with spiritualist leanings has a vision of one of his choristers and an abandoned temple in the desert. The Major's Promise - a party of British officers find out one of their number has clairvoyant abilities when they are plagued by eerie phenomena on a hunting trip.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on May 10, 2011 17:17:08 GMT
Having finished Mrs Gaskell, I've now moved on to an interesting little piece from 1911 - C W Leadbeater's The Perfume of Egypt. The introduction makes the claim that all the stories in the collection are true, and that the author collected them personally (apart from those he himself experienced). Since he was a founder of the Theosophical Society and protege of Annie Besant, I can quite believe that. They mostly seem to concern spirit manifestations and astral travel, and so far I've enjoyed them; they are rather well written, with an eye for entertainment value as well as for dissemination of spiritualist beliefs. One of the pieces I've read so far, The Major's Promise, was according to the author published in Catherine Crowe's The Night Side of Nature, but in a much shorter version. So, to date we have; The Perfume of Egypt - in which a barrister experiences an unusual ghostly visitation accompanied by a unique perfume, and later finds an explanation while staying with an old school friend at his newly inherited manor. The Forsaken Temple - a Sunday School teacher with spiritualist leanings has a vision of one of his choristers and an abandoned temple in the desert. The Major's Promise - a party of British officers find out one of their number has clairvoyant abilities when they are plagued by eerie phenomena on a hunting trip. Sounds a goodie - it's now on my wants list
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Post by lemming13 on May 11, 2011 9:49:04 GMT
Well, the ebook version is on free download from manybooks, and I know horrormasters has it online to read. Enjoy!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on May 11, 2011 18:11:55 GMT
Thanks. I will.
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Post by lemming13 on May 13, 2011 12:45:42 GMT
Moving on from The Major's Promise, we have: A Test Of Courage; a astral travel experience pits the traveller against hostile elementals and leaves curiously solid evidence. An Astral Murder; a very good tale of a jealous train driver who returns from the grave to hound his rival. A Triple Warning; A college student has an uncanny vision of his father. The Concealed Confession; a bishop visiting a country house is asked to help deal with an unsettling phantom visitor. Jagannath; a rather lurid and entertaining description of the rites of Jagannath, and the 'truth' of what lies behind them.
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Post by lemming13 on May 16, 2011 12:16:08 GMT
And the last two: The Baron's Room, a story attributed to Madame Blavatsky, concerning two young ramblers who insist on spending the night in an allegedly haunted chateau, and live to regret it; and Saved By A Ghost, which is a long Boy's Own adventure tale of a father and his sons caught up in a South American revolution, with extra added paranormal experiences. It's pretty good, too, and so is the Baron's Room, though I think my favourites remain Jagannath and An Astral Murder. Very satisfying all round.
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